


Money changin' colors like tie-dye

by Mooresomore



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, dream fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 11:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooresomore/pseuds/Mooresomore
Summary: When he and John climbed into bed that night, Mat couldn’t help the “I love you” that slipped out. When John leaned over and gave Mat a goodnight kiss and said, “I love you too”, Mat knew he’d said the right thing.





	Money changin' colors like tie-dye

**Author's Note:**

> If you know/are anyone in this fic, turn back now. Please. Completely made up!!
> 
> Disclaimer: This is complete and total FICTION. That means it never happened and is completely untrue. In fact, this is so far from the truth that it isn’t even in the same country as the truth. I don’t own anybody, and I make no money off of this. I am not in any way implying said characters’ sexual identities. All knowledge of these people are from public information. All thoughts are my own.
> 
> Unbeta’d, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.
> 
> Stole the title from “Stir Fry” by Migos.

Mat went to bed alone in New York in 2018. When he woke up, he wasn’t alone and- holy shit, that was John Tavares in the bed beside him. Why were they both naked? And why did John have a hickey on his neck?

Mat struggled to get out from under John’s grasp; the more he moved, the tighter John gripped him. “Ugh, too early babe. Sleep some more.”

BABE??! Mat really was confused now. He was able to reach out and grab his phone. He hit the home button and was greeted by a picture of him and John kissing. They were both in tuxedos, so Mat assumed it must have been their wedding day. A quick glance at their hands confirmed Mat’s suspicions- yep, they both had rings. Mat got into his calendar, which told him it was 2028.

Mat took a deep breath. He decided to go ahead and wake John up, to see what he knew. “John, come on, let’s get up.”

“Time is it?” John sleepily mumbled.

“A little past 7:30,” Mat answered.

John sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Alright, yeah. You start the coffee and I’ll be down in a minute.”

Mat went downstairs, where the coffee was already done. He poured them each a cup and sat at the table.

John emerged a few minutes later with a notebook with tabs. He sat down with a sigh; Mat felt like they had had this conversation many times before. John opened up the notebook, and Mat could see that there were tabs for each year between 2018 and 2027. John flipped to 2018.

Mat saw pictures from their season, and a couple from Worlds. “I take it we were still skirting around the issue here?”

John simply nodded and turned the page. Mat saw lots of pictures of the two of them on the ice together, but none of them off the ice. “You asked me out and I told you no. You refused to speak to me.” John said by way of explanation.

“Oh.”

The 2020 page had more pictures of them off-ice than on ice; and there was a quote written “hindsight’s always 20/20”. Mat chuckled. “I take it I wrote that.”

“Yep.” John said. “You said it all year long. I wanted to hit you so many times. You were lucky I was so charmed by you.”

“Aww!” Mat blushed. “Turn the page.”

2021 was filled with multiple pictures of them on dates; Mat couldn’t help but notice how happy they looked. “We finally started dating officially here.” John said.

Mat loved the 2022 page. They had apparently won the Stanley Cup that year, if all the pictures were anything to go by. (Mat’s favorite picture was the one with him and John kissing in front of the cup.)

2023 was filled with multiple pictures of them together, both alone and with their families. Mat really loved the picture of John sitting next to Mat with Mat’s whole family at Thanksgiving.

“Is this our wedding day?” Mat asked as he flipped to the 2024 page and was greeted with the picture that was his phone background.

“Yeah. Best day of my life.” John smiles; Mat does too, although he wishes he could remember the actual day instead of just seeing it in pictures. “The week long honeymoon in Saint Lucia was nice too.”

2025 brought pictures of what appeared to be John’s retirement press conference, along with more pictures of them with their families.

Mat watched as John turned to 2026 and was greeted with a lot of baby pictures. Mat’s eyes were drawn to the one in the middle, where he was holding the baby and John was looking at the two of them like there was no one else in the world at that moment.

“That’s when we brought Rylan home from the hospital.” John said, voice soft. Mat could hear the smile in John’s voice. “We were so scared. I lost count of the number of times we called our parents.”

Mat smiled. He turned the page, where his own retirement ceremony greeted him. There were also more pictures of Rylan, and another bunch of baby pictures. This time, it was John holding the baby, while Mat had Rylan in his arms.

“That was when Bayleigh joined the family.” John said. “Rylan hated her at first. But he’s been warming up.”

Mat smiled. He had never thought he wanted kids, but looking at these pictures, he could tell these two had him wrapped around their little fingers. “Speaking of them…”

“Your parents should be dropping them off this afternoon.” John said. “They wanted a grandparent’s weekend. My parents will take them in a couple weeks. It works out well- for everyone.” Mat didn’t miss John’s implication.

“Ah.” Mat settled on. “You said the kids will be back this afternoon? That means we have some time, if you want…” Mat barely even had time to say “want” before John was up off the chair and in Mat’s space, kissing him hard.

“Of course I do.” John grabbed Mat’s hand and led them back down to the bedroom, pushing Mat down on the bed and blanketing him.

Mat relaxed a little into the kisses; he felt like they’d done this before (which, duh, they were married and had sex plenty of times; Mat couldn’t help but feel like this had happened before all that, like before they had gotten together- like maybe a one-night thing or something). “Yeah,” he nodded when John asked if he could get things going faster.

It didn’t take long for either of them; there was a practiced ease between them. If Mat was being honest, it was some of the best sex he’d ever had.

Mat’s parents dropped off the kids later on that day; as Mat and John worked on getting them fed and bathed, Mat couldn’t help but think how this was the perfect life.

When he and John climbed into bed that night, Mat couldn’t help the “I love you” that slipped out. When John leaned over and gave Mat a goodnight kiss and said, “I love you too”, Mat knew he’d said the right thing.

*

Mat woke up to his alarm blaring. He was alone in the room, and there was no ring on his finger. His phone’s backdrop was him hoisting the Memorial Cup trophy.

Mat stumbled out of bed and went upstairs, where Dennis and Rebecca were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee. “Good morning sleepyhead.” Rebecca teased as Mat made a beeline for the coffee.

“Oh shush.” Mat laughed.

“Hey, JT called. He said to call him after, I quote, ‘he’s awake and alert’. He said it was something personal, not team related.” Dennis said.

Mat didn’t choke on his sip of coffee (just barely- it was close), just answered, “Ok.”

Mat went back down to the basement and showered, then sat on the bed and dialed John’s number. “Hey, it’s Mat.”

Mat actually dropped the phone as John relayed the exact dream Mat had the night before to him. “Wait, were we in some sort of alternate universe?” Mat asked.

“I don’t know.” John said. “But it made me wonder. What if I would’ve said yes when you asked me the first time.”

“Oh.” Mat said. He had told John last week that he was bi; John had just said he supported him, but left it at that.

“To clarify,” John said, “I’m saying yes now.”

“But I haven’t even asked you out on a date yet!” Mat laughed.

“Well, when you do, the answer is yes.” John said. “See you for pregame skate later on today.”

“Yes captain.” Mat said.

Maybe he’d ask John out after practice and see where things went from there.


End file.
